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Plutarch · Life of Publicola §22.1-22.5

The Sabine Ambush and Poplicola's Counter-Attack

Passage 22 of 23 · Greek

Summary

The Sabine leaders, angered by Appius Clausus's migration, launch a large army toward Rome with an ambush plan. Poplicola, learning of this scheme beforehand, orchestrates a successful counter-ambush and encirclement, dealing a crushing defeat to the Sabines.

§22.1τὰ δὲ Σαβίνων οὕτω διακριθέντα τῷ μετοικισμῷ τῶν ἀνδρῶν, οὐκ εἴασαν οἱ δημαγωγοῦντες ἀτρεμῆσαι καί καταστῆναι, σχετλιάζοντες εἰ Κλαῦσος ἃ παρὼν οὐκ ἔπεισε διαπράξεται φυγὰς γενόμενος καί πολέμιος, μὴ δοῦναι δίκην Ῥωμαίους ὧν ὑβρίζουσιν.
But the affairs of the Sabines, having been thus divided by the migration of the men, the demagogues did not allow to remain quiet and settle down, being indignant that Clausus, as a fugitive and enemy, would accomplish what he could not persuade them of while present, and that the Romans would not pay the penalty for their outrages.
ἄραντες οὖν στρατῷ μεγάλῳ περὶ Φιδήνας κατηυλίσαντο, καί τινα λόχον θέμενοι πρὸ τῆς Ῥώμης ἐν χωρίοις συνηρεφέσι καί κοίλοις δισχιλίους ὁπλίτας, ἔμελλον ἅμʼ ἡμέρᾳ φανερῶς ὀλίγοις ἱππεῦσι λείαν ἐλαύνειν.
Setting out therefore with a large army, they encamped around Fidenae; and placing an ambush of two thousand hoplites before Rome in places shaded and hollow, they intended at daybreak openly to drive off booty with a few horsemen.
§22.2εἴρητο δʼ αὐτοῖς, ὅταν τῇ πόλει προσελάσωσιν, ὑποφεύγειν ἕως ἐμβάλωσιν εἰς τὴν ἐνέδραν τοὺς πολεμίους·
And orders had been given to them, when they rode up to the city, to flee before the enemy until they should draw them into the ambush.
ταῦθʼ ὁ Ποπλικόλας αὐθημερὸν πυθόμενος παρʼ αὐτομόλων ταχὺ διηρμόσατο πρὸς πάντα καί διένειμε τὴν δύναμιν.
Poplicola, having learned these things on the same day from deserters, quickly adjusted everything and distributed his force.
Ποστούμιος μὲν γὰρ Βάλβος ὁ γαμβρὸς αὐτοῦ τρισχιλίοις ὁπλίταις ἑσπέρας ἔτι προελθὼν καί καταλαβὼν τοὺς ἀκρολόφους, ὑφʼ οἷς ἐνήδρευον οἱ Σαβῖνοι, παρεφύλαττεν· §22.3ὁ δὲ συνάρχων Λουκρήτιος ἔχων τὸ κουφότατον ἐν τῇ πόλει καί γενναιότατον ἐτάχθη τοῖς ἐλαύνουσι τὴν λείαν ἱππεῦσιν ἐπιχειρεῖν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν ἄλλην ἀναλαβὼν στρατιὰν κύκλῳ περιῆλθε τοὺς πολεμίους, καὶ κατὰ τύχην ὁμίχλης βαθείας ἐπιπεσούσης, περὶ ὄρθρον ἅμα Ποστούμιός τε τοὺς ἐνεδρεύοντας ἐμβοήσας ἔβαλεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄκρων, καί τοῖς προϊππασαμένοις ἐφῆκε τοὺς περὶ αὑτὸν ὁ Λουκρήτιος, καί Ποπλικόλας προσέβαλε τοῖς στρατοπέδοις τῶν πολεμίων.
For Postumius Balbus, his son-in-law, having gone forward while it was still evening with three thousand hoplites and having occupied the hills under which the Sabines were lying in ambush, kept watch from above; and Lucretius, his colleague, having the lightest and most valiant men in the city, was ordered to attack the horsemen who were driving off the booty, while he himself, taking the rest of the army, went around the enemy in a circle. And as it happened a thick mist fell, at daybreak Postumius, raising a shout, fell upon those in ambush from the heights, and Lucretius let loose his men upon those who had ridden forward, and Poplicola attacked the camps of the enemy.
§22.4πάντη μὲν οὖν ἐκακοῦτο τ ὰ Σαβίνων καί διεφθείρετο· τοὺς δʼ ἐνταῦθα μηδʼ ἀμυνομένους, ἀλλὰ φεύγοντας, εὐθὺς ἔκτεινον οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι, τῆς ἐλπίδος αὐτοῖς ὀλεθριωτάτης γενομένης.
In every way, therefore, the affairs of the Sabines were distressed and ruined; and the Romans immediately killed those who were there, not even defending themselves but fleeing, their hope having become most destructive to them.
σῴζεσθαι γὰρ οἰόμενοι τοὺς ἑτέρους οἱ ἕτεροι τῷ μάχεσθαι καί μένειν οὐ προσεῖχον, ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἐρυμάτων πρὸς τοὺς ἐνεδρεύοντας, §22.5οἱ δὲ πάλιν ὡς ἐκείνους εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον θέοντες ἐναντίοι φεύγουσιν ἐνέπιπτον πρὸς οὓς ἔφευγον καί βοηθείας δεομένοις οὓς ἤλπιζον αὐτοῖς βοηθήσειν.
For, thinking that they would be saved by each other, they did not attend to fighting and remaining, but some fled from the fortifications to those in ambush, and others again, running to the camp to those, fell in with those fleeing in the opposite direction, toward those whom they were fleeing, and, needing help, fell in with those who they hoped would help them.
τὸ δὲ μὴ πάντας ἀπολέσθαι τοὺς Σαβίνους, ἀλλὰ καί περιγενέσθαι τινάς ἡ Φιδηνατῶν πόλις ἐγγὺς οὖσα παρέσχε, καί μάλιστα τοῖς ἐκ τῶν στρατοπέδων, ὅθʼ ἡλίσκετο, διεκπίπτουσιν.
But that not all the Sabines perished, but some also survived, was due to the city of the Fidenates being near, and especially to those who escaped from the camps when they were being captured.
ὅσοι δὲ Φιδηνῶν διήμαρτον διεφθάρησαν ἢ ζῶντες ἀπήχθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν λαβόντων.
But as many as missed Fidenae were destroyed or led away alive by those who took them.

Notes

  1. 22.1σχετλιάζοντες εἰ — “complaining that” or “indignant that.” The conjunction εἰ here does not introduce a conditional clause, but rather a clause indicating the cause or grounds for an emotion, following a participle of emotion (σχετλιάζοντες).
  2. 22.1μὴ δοῦναι δίκην Ῥωμαίους — “that the Romans would not pay the penalty.” The negative μὴ negates the infinitive δίκην δοῦναι (to pay the penalty), which has Ῥωμαίους as its subject accusative. This accusative-and-infinitive construction functions either in apposition to the content of the εἰ clause or as an infinitive of result/purpose dependent on διαπράξεται.
  3. 22.5βοηθείας δεομένοις οὓς ἤλπιζον αὐτοῖς βοηθήσειν — “needing help, [they fell in with] those who they hoped would help them.” The dative plural present participle δεομένοις (needing) refers to the fleeing soldiers and functions as the complement of the verb ἐνέπιπτον (fell in with). The relative pronoun οὓς refers to those they ran into, while the dative pronoun αὐτοῖς refers to the fleers themselves as the object of the infinitive βοηθήσειν (to help).

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Life of Publicola §22.1-22.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg008.humanitext-grc2:22.1-22.5

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